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Chiggers yes, some. I had some on the lower parts of my lower legs just above my boot tops. But ticks? No. We have not a had a tick problem here this year. I've picked up a single tick all year. Even when wading though the deep grass in NC I have not picked up a tick. Not only don't there seem to be as many ticks, the fire ants have virtually disappeared. Two years ago, looking out across a field in NC, you'd see a dozen or more fire ant mounds. In 2020 I got attacked by fire ants three times stepping on mounds I didn't see in high grass. This year, I can count the number of fire ant mounds I've seen on two hands.

Now, the yellow deer flies and bot flies have been extra fierce. I'm seeing squirrels now with well developed bot fly lumps. I was out in the swamp again yesterday looking at bears. I've noticed a 10-fold increase (it seems) in silk spiders, and dragonflies. You can't walk a trail without one of spider's garrotes strung across a trail snagging your throat. And the spiders, as harmless and pretty as they are, are way bigger than I ever remember them being. They are eating good. God bless 'em. Anything that takes down the yellow deer flies is my friend.




And I heard Bobwhies out in the soybeans, but didn't see any. Love to hear Bobwhites.

The seasons are achanging. It's starting to get dark earlier. I noticed a lot of baitfish schools in the sounds yeasterday. They are balling up as they tend to do as summer begins to wane. I saw the first V of cormarants flying. Bucks antlers are starting to get well devloped. And the black bear diets are starting to turn heavily to berries. Their turds are going from grassy from all the leafy vegetation they've been eating to inky black from all the berrys that are consuming. Fall is coming.